May 03, 2010

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Kim Kardashian and Justin Bieber drew the camera flashes at the White House Correspondents dinner, but foreign policy geeks took closer note of the TPM table, where National Security Council Chief of Staff Denis McDonough -- probably the most powerful foreign policy staffer in the administration -- was seated with the two grand old men of "realist politics," former National Security Advisors Brent Scowcroft and Zbigniew Brzezinski.

Also at the table, New America's Steve Clemons, who qualified that he and the others are "progressive realists" and added that the table also included "Sex and the City" creator Darren Starr and TPM founder Josh Marshall, the host.

Scowcroft and Brzezinski have been vying for influence in the Obama White House since Obama introduced the latter in Iowa, then distanced himself from him over Israel. They're currently central to the efforts to persuade Obama to advance his own Mideast peace plan.

McDonough, who came up on the process-oriented Hill, tends to keep his own broader views on foreign policy close to the vest.